CLEVELAND — The U.S. Department of Education has opened a Title VI investigation into Case Western Reserve University following a complaint alleging discrimination towards Palestinian, Arab and Muslim students.
Months after being banned from Case Western Reserve University campus due to his involvement in a pro-Palestinian encampment, former student Jad Oglesby said that he won’t forget how the university treated him.
“Throughout the first two years of my time at Case was when Black Lives Matter was still very alive and relevant, and I felt accepted and heard as African American, but when issues involving Palestine were brought up, now, it was very hush-hush, and now we are being labeled as hateful, bigoted, antisemitic warmongering and even terrorists,” said Oglesby, who is also the former vice president of Students for Justice in Palestine.
Oglesby says he had to wait until July to get his degree. Now, the US Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights said that it is opening a Title VI investigation into the university.
“They don't just open these investigations out of the blue. There must be enough severe allegations for them to do this, and there must be a reason,” said Maryam Assar, the attorney representing some of the Case students.
Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination based on race, ethnicity or country of origin.
In a letter sent to the Council of American Islamic Relations and provided by the group to News 5, the department said it would investigate whether Case Western failed to respond to alleged harassment of Palestinian, Arab, or Muslim students and whether the university treated students differently based on national origin during the 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 school years.
“We were thrilled that the Office of Civil Rights decided to open an investigation. It's been months, if not more than that, where students have been harassed on campus have been dealt with in a different way,” said Faten Odeh, the executive director of CAIR.
The investigation was launched after CAIR’s Cleveland office filed a 13-page complaint in July, listing instances in which they believe Palestinians were discriminated against, including an incident in May when a video allegedly showed a hired contractor spraying paint in the faces of pro-Palestinian protestors standing in front of the university’s spirit wall.
RELATED: Title VI complaint filed against Case Western Reserve University alleging Palestinian discrimination
“Just because Case Western Reserve University is a private university, a private institution, they are not above federal law. They must treat all their students equally and fairly,” said Odeh.
News 5 reached out to Case Western regarding the Title VI investigation, and the university responded with the following:
Case Western Reserve University received a notice today that the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (“OCR”) has opened an investigation into allegations in a complaint made by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Ohio) about the university. As the OCR's procedures clearly state, “opening a complaint for investigation in no way implies that OCR has made a determination with regard to the merits of the complaint.” Case Western Reserve will fully cooperate with the OCR and welcomes the opportunity to demonstrate that the university takes seriously its obligation to fully comply with Title IV of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The university’s policies and procedures have been and continue to be fair, impartial and designed to provide equal access to facilities and resources, ensure the safety of all members of our campus community, and protect our community members’ freedom of expression.
Even though Oglesby isn’t a student at Case Western anymore, he believes this investigation could be a step toward bringing about change.
“I hope that this, our case, could establish, like, a precedent for not only Palestinians but other minorities,” said Oglesby.
The Office for Civil Rights states that launching this investigation doesn't mean they have reached a decision on the complaint. However, they will begin collecting and analyzing evidence to make that determination.
We also contacted the Department of Education, which said it does not comment on open investigations.
